Educated Servant Leader

Educated Servant Leader

Hi, my name is Patrick Kelly, and I want to be an educated servant leader for the Lord. My wife and I live in East Tennessee, but the road God sent me on to get here was winding. I was born in Liberty, New York in 1964. Even though I grew up poor, for the most part, I had a loving family. I was baptized Catholic but not raised in the church. However, I have believed in Jesus for as long as I can remember. But for most of my life, I walked in the world and not with the Lord.

I dropped out of school at age 17 and joined the Marine Corps. During those four years, I deployed twice; one time was to Beruit, Lebanon in 1984. That same year I married my soul mate, Natalie. We were young, me 20 and her 17. Other than surrendering to Christ, marrying Natalie was the greatest thing that’s happened to me. In 1987, we had the first of five children the youngest being born in 2005.

After I got out of the Corps in 1986, I became a New York State Corrections Officer working in the state prisons. When the first Gulf War started in 1991, I went back into the Marine Corps for two plus years. During that tour, I deployed to Mogadishu, Somalia in 1992-93. I got out of the Corps again in 1993, and both my wife and I found employment with the Las Vegas Metro Police Department which we retired from in 2012.

Life Changes and Bible Education with CLI

Growing up poor and spending my adult life under challenging environments, it was easy for me to live in the world and not see God everywhere. Those experiences may have been obstacles at the time, but now God uses them in my maturation as a follower of Christ.

After we retired from Metro, my wife and I and our two children still at home traveled the country in an RV while we homeschooled the kids. We were looking for a place to settle down. God brought us to the mountains of East Tennessee, where we bought a home in 2012. Ending up where we did had to be a God thing since our nearest relative is over 800 miles away. We have a beautiful place on the mountain overlooking the valley. I am 47 years old, retired and not needing to work.

You would think I had everything needed to be happy and content. But no, something was missing. There was a void. We found a small church to attend, and the Pastor took a group to see “God’s Not Dead.” God used that occasion to open my eyes. I opened my heart and surrendered, and everything changed. God filled the void. So for me, my prayer is that Christian Leaders Institute helps me become a more competent follower of Christ so I can be an educated servant leader. I don’t need a degree or a document telling everyone what I’ve done. I want to be a better and educated servant leader.

Learn about ordained minister study programs at Christian Leaders Alliance.